Perkins: New show not based on me

Sue Perkins has insisted her new sitcom Heading Out, is not based on herself.

The comedienne and The Great British Bake Off presenter has written the comedy and stars in it herself as Sara, a 40-something vet, who like Sue is a lesbian.

Sue, 43, said: "People will think the main character is me but it isn't at all. I am shy and a bit awkward like her but that isn't my story about coming out and that's not my parents.

"There are a few little relationships I've had that I've blown up and twisted around a bit, and there are quite a lot of exes of mine in there. They won't be able to recognise themselves, I've really changed them.

"But I never felt like I should really root it to my own experience, because my own experience wasn't funny enough."

And Sue does not want people to label the show as 'gay TV'.

She said: "I'll be sad if people refer to it as a gay sitcom because it so isn't. It's a sitcom and it's got a gay character in it. If there was something political behind it, it was just the fact that everyone is the same. I wanted it very firmly in the normal world, and to say, 'Wouldn't it be great if one day people didn't have to go through that?'

"And equally with the love story to ask - why label it? We all feel the same. We all feel pain at unrequited love, we all feel awkward when it's a possibility, we all feel shy when push comes to shove."